Botswana faces questions over licences for fracking companies in Kalahari

Botswana has been accused of sacrificing the Kalahari, one of the worlds most precious wildlife reserves, to commercial fracking while ignoring the concerns of environmentalists and communities who could lose access to scarce water. Hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, for the production of gas is the subject of fierce debate in America, Britain, South Africa and countries around the world, with green activists warning that it degrades land and pollutes air and water. Yet for more than a decade, Botswana, lauded as one of Africa’s most stable democracies, has been quietly granting lucrative licences to international companies to carry out fracking in the fragile Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).Read More…